Shoe upper



Feb. 23, 1943. J CRANQELL v 2,312,078

SHOE UPPER Filed Oct. 9, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 23, 1943. J CRANNELL 2,312,078

SHOE UPPER Filed Oct. 9-, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 23, 1943 SHOE UPPER James J. Crannell, Endicott, N. Y., assignor to Endicott Johnson Corporation, Endicott, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 9, 1940, Serial No. 360,489

6 Claims.

This invention relates to shoes and footwear, particularly to two-tone sport shoes; also to the method of making same; and th principal object thereof is to provide a shoe of the above type having an upper provided with a raised imitation wing-tip of contrasting color on the vamp, and/ or a raised imitation heel foXing of contrasting color on the quarter, said wing-tip and heel foxing simulating separate wing-tips or heel foxings of contrasting color which are stitched to the vamp or quarter according to the common practice.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel method for forming on the vamp or quarter of a shoe upper a raised imitation wing-tip, heel foxing or other portion having a color contrasting to that of the main body of the shoe upper, said method resulting in the production of a shoe in which considerable saving is effected not noly in labor costs but also a saving in shoe upper material itself, the shoe manufactured from Vamps and quarters treated according to my method having the same appearance as ordinary two-tone sport shoes having separate wing-tips and heel foxings stitched thereon, not only as to the areas of the wing-tips, foxings, or other portions, but also as to the use of perforations and stitchings in said portions.

A method of manufacturing shoe uppers known as press-perf heretofore has been used to produce thereon imitation perforations and stitchings in imitation of wing-tips and heel foxings on shoes of inexpensive construction; but the pressperf method did not produce raised imitation wing-tips or heel foxings having perforations extending entirely through the portions of the shoe uppers, nor did said press-pert method produce imitation wing-tips and heel foxings of colors contrasting to that of the vamps or quarters of shoes to give a two-tone effect thereto.

I will explain the invention with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate one practical embodiment thereof to enable others familiar with the art to adopt and use the same; and will summarize in the claims the novel features of construction, and novel combinations of parts, for which protection is desired.

In said drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a two-tone sport shoe made in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan View of a vamp blank for such shoe.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section on the line 33, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the vamp blank treated on a heat embossing machine to compress the portion of the area thereof which is not to be colored to form an imitation wing-tip.

Fig. 5 is a transverse section on the line 55, Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the vamp blank having the inner edge of the uncompressed portion thereof perforated by treatment in a perforating gether by stitching 3 in the usual manner, said stitching passing through overlapping portions of the vamp and quarters, said upper having the usual lining 4, and the upper being secured to the sole 5 in any desired manner.

According to my invention, in order to provide a raised imitation wing-tip on the vamp l, the vamp blank B which may be of leather such as white buck or the like, is cut from the leather into shape to conform with the size of the shoe, said vamp blank B being shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and having the usual shape. The vamp blank B is then placed in a heat embossing machine or the like to compress the area B of the grain side thereof which is not embraced by the wing tip area, thereby leaving the portion thereof which is coextensive with the wing-tip area of its original thickness, and said area is to be subsequently dyed to form the imitation wing-tip of the same thickness as the initial blank B, the portion of original thickness being indicated in Fig. 4 by the edge la defining the edge of the imitation wingtip on the vamp, and said edge la being preferably serrated, as shown, so that after the uncompressed portion of the treated blank has been dyed or colored, the same will have the appearance of a separate wing-tip applied to the vamp by stitching or the like as is customary in the usual shoe. Obviously the edge la may have a different contour or shape and need not be serrated.

The blank B shown in Fig. 4 is then treated in a perforating machine having a series of die punches whereby a series of perforations lb, lc, shown in Fig. 6 are punched in the uncompressed portion parallel with and adjacent to the edge la, said perforations lb, lc, extending entirely through the blank material; and preferably the single large perforations lb alternate with the pairs of smaller perforations lc to give an ornamental elfect thereto. However, any other form of perforations may be used. If desired, the toe portion of the vamp may be further provided with ornamental punchings I e as indicated in Fig. 1.

A mask is then placed upon the compressed portion B of the blank shown in Fig. 6, and the blank then sprayed with a dye of any desired color so as to impart said color only to the uncompressed portion B over the entire area defined by the edge la, also to the walls of the perforations lb, la, and le. Thereafter the perforations lb, [0, and le in the imitation wing-tip are closed by a backing sheet or strip on the flesh side of the blank of the same color as the wing-tip dye applied to the inner face of the blank; and in order to further simulate the appearance of as'hoe having aseparate or independent wing-tip, rows of stitching Id (Fig. 1) may be applied at both sides of the series of perforations lb, lc, adjacentthe serrated edge la, said rows of stitching ld giving the.

appearance of an independently colored leather wing-tip stitched to the vamp. The vamp'thus prepared may then be incorporated in the shoe in any manner customary in the manufacture of any type of shoe.

While Figs. 2 to 7 illustrate my method of treating a shoe vamp, it is obvious that the same method may be applied to the quarter 2 to provide thereon an uncompressed portion in imitation heel foxing defined by the edge 2a in Fig. l,

the perforating andcoloring of the heel foxing on the quarter being performed in the same manner as above described in connection with perforating and coloring of the wing-tip on the vamp.

By my method above outlined, the cost of providing sport shoes with wing-tips in contrasting colors is materially reduced not only with respect to labor costs but also with respect tothe amount of leather; for instance, in manufacturing shoes having separate or independent wing-tips secured to'the Vamps the cost for labor is approximately four cents, and for the material ten cents. By my method the entire cost of the separate material for the wing tip is saved, and also a portion of the labor costs (four cents) is saved. Where the heel foxing is also applied to the quarter'by my method, an additional saving in the construction of the shoe is effected over'the cost of attaching a separate or independent heel foxing.

My imitation wing-tip, heel foxing, or the like, may be applied to various kinds of leather, and various colors may be imparted to the uncompressed area thereof. Moreover, in practice, I have found that the use of dye on buck leather is very satisfactory and produces a long wearing shoe, and tests have shown that the Wearing qualities are good. My method has also been successfully applied to shoes made of glazed leather.

I do not limit my invention to only the formation of wing-tips or heel foxings on shoe uppers, for obviously my novel method may be used to ornament any portion of shoe uppers, or leather in general, to give thereto the appearance hat separate pieces of leather have been stitched thereto, to give areas of contrasting color.

I claim:

1. A shoe vamp having a portion of its grain face corresponding to the area of the wing tip uncompressed and having a colored coating thereon, the remaining portion of said vamp being compressed and having a contrasting colored coating thereon, whereby the vamp appears to have a separate toe tip applied thereon.

2. In a shoe vamp as set forth in claim 1, said vamp having a series of perforations in the uncompressed portion substantially parallel with and adjacent the shoulder formed between the compressed and uncompressed portions.

3. In a shoe vamp as setforth in claim 1, said vamp having a series of perforations in the uncompressed portion substantially parallel with and adjacent the shoulder formed between the compressed and uncompressed portions, and rows of stitching at opposite sides of said series of perforations.

i. In ashoe vamp as set forth in claim 1, the shoulder formed between the compressed and uncompressed'areas being serrated.

5. In a shoe vamp as set forth in claim 1, the shoulder formed between the compressed and uncompressed portions being serrated, and aseries of perforations in the uncompressed area disposed substantially parallel with and adjacent said shoulder.

6. In a shoe vamp as set forth in claim 1,the shoulder formed between the compressed and uncompressed portions being serrated, and a series of perforations in the uncompressedarea disposed substantially parallel with and adjacent said shoulder, and rows of stitching at opposite sides of said series of perforations.

JAMES J. CRANNELL. 

